Senior / Staff Machine Learning Research Scientist, Agents

About This Role

This role is at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research and practical application, with a focus on studying the data types essential for building state-of-the-art agents, such as browser and SWE agents. The ideal candidate will explore the data landscape needed to advance intelligent, adaptable AI agents, guiding the data strategy at Scale to drive innovation.

This position requires not only expertise in LLM agents and planning algorithms but also creativity in addressing novel challenges related to data, interaction, and evaluation. You will contribute to impactful research publications on agents, collaborate with customer researchers, and work alongside the engineering team to translate these advancements into real-world, scalable solutions.

Ideally you'd have

• Practical experience working with LLMs, with proficiency in frameworks like Pytorch, Jax, or Tensorflow. You should also be adept at interpreting research literature and quickly turning new ideas into prototypes.
• A track record of published research in top ML venues (e.g., ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, COLM, etc.)
• At least three years of experience addressing sophisticated ML problems, either in a research setting or product development.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to operate cross-functionally.

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience with open source LLM fine-tuning or involvement in bespoke LLM fine-tuning projects using Pytorch/Jax.
• Hands-on experience and publications in building applications and evaluations related to AI agents such as tool-use, text2SQL, browser agents, coding agents and GUI agents.
• Hands-on experience with agent frameworks such as OpenHands, Swarm, LangGraph, etc.
• Familiarity with agentic reasoning methods such as STaR and PLANSEARCH
• Experience working with cloud technology stack (eg. AWS or GCP) and developing machine learning models in a cloud environment.

Additional information

Our research interviews are crafted to assess candidates' skills in practical ML prototyping and debugging, their grasp of research concepts, and their alignment with our organizational culture. We will not ask any LeetCode-style questions.

Pay and benefits

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits.

The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training.

Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant.

You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is:

$302,400—$378,000 USD

Please Note

Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

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